Volkswagen was Spain's No. 1-selling brand in January, with sales rising 34 percent to 8,909. VW topped locally based sister brand Seat, which increased sales 31 percent to 8,540. PSA Group’s Peugeot and Opel brands took third and fourth place, respectively, last month. Peugeot boosted sales 31 percent to 7,518, while Opel’s volume fell 5.6 percent to 6,887. Toyota rounded out the top five after posting a 12 percent increase to 6,337 sales.

Despite the strong start to 2018, Raul Morales, who is communication director at Spanish dealer association FACONAUTO, remained cautious. “We cannot be overly optimistic about February. We don’t think the good results will be sustained because in January we saw a decline in orders,” Morales said in a statement.

Jeep more than doubled sales (+126 percent) thanks to the launch of the new Compass.

Demand for diesels slumped badly. The powertrain accounted for 41.8 percent of total January sales, down from 52.7 percent in January 2017. Gasoline-powered cars had a 51.7 percent share last month, while hybrid and full-electric vehicles accounted for 6.5 percent of the market.